All staff in TN schools to get Covid jab before reopening

Flexible timings and screening of teachers and students are among other directions from DPH to ensure safety
File photo of students writing an exam at a school in Chennai | Express
File photo of students writing an exam at a school in Chennai | Express

CHENNAI: The Health department has released the Standard Operating Procedure for reopening schools for Classes 9-12 from September 1.

All teachers, other staff, and eligible students will have to be vaccinated, and only 50 per cent of students are to be allowed in school at a time, Director of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine TS Selvavinayagam stated in a circular issued to all deputy directors of health services (DDHS) on Tuesday. He also instructed them to coordinate with school authorities to ensure the SOP is followed.

The department also suggested alternatives to staggering timetables to ensure physical distancing. Schools may have flexible, staggered and reduced timings for different classes, and 50 per cent of students may attend classes on a rotation basis on alternate days, or every two days, while also being given home assignments, the DPH said.

Alternatively, there could be a weekly class-wise timetable for attendance. Schools with a large number of students may conduct classes in two shifts, letting the same set of teachers work the regular number of hours, the DPH added.

Schools were also told to avoid conducting events, congregations and meetings, and were instructed to sensitise students, parents, teachers, community members and hostel staff on Covid-19-related challenges. Students and teachers from containment zones are not to visit their institutions, and employees who are at a greater risk, such as the elderly and the pregnant, have been asked to take extra precautions.

Health inspectors, block health supervisors, and non-medical supervisors are to be assigned to every school to monitor the compliance with the SOP. The DPH also said all students and teachers are to be screened within a week by the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) team. The officials were also instructed to make medical mobile unit teams available in the blocks and share their contact details with schools.

Symptomatic students, teachers or other staff are not to be allowed on campus, and schools must provide sanitiser, and soap and water for hand-washing, the DPH said. The campus, furniture, and school vehicles must be cleaned and disinfected, and schools are to use calibrated contact-less infrared digital thermometers.

As suggested by the Union Health Ministry, there must be at least six feet distance between students in the revised seating plan. If benches are used, the one-student-one-bench norm may be considered, the DPH said.

To maintain physical distance, instructions have been given for staggering the timing of entry and exit for students of different classes, earmarking lanes for entry and exit, and using all gates.

Dr Prabhdeep Kaur, deputy director, National Institute of Epidemiology, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said it is important to try and reopen schools as students have suffered a lot since March, 2020. “We learned to do so many other activities with precautions, so we should also make a sincere effort to open schools with precautions. Many countries are doing it. I acknowledge that there will be challenges, as students will be in groups, and mask-compliance will be poor. So schools should have staggered timings and avoid mixing of classes,” said Dr Kaur.

She added that all symptomatic students should be tested at the earliest, and group activities at school should be avoided. About predictions that children would be more affected in the third wave of the pandemic, Dr Kaur said, “As of now, nobody knows whether children will be affected more. We only know that children will get a milder form of the disease and won’t get a severe infection.”

No entry for those who have symptoms 
Symptomatic students, teachers and other staff are not to be allowed on campus, the DPH said, adding that schools must provide sanitiser, and soap and water for hand-washing. As per the Union Health Ministry’s suggestions, a distance of at least six feet must be maintained between students. To ensure this, instructions have been given for staggering the timing of entry and exit for students of different classes, earmarking lanes for entry and exit, and using all gates

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